A Heart
by shells of thalassa
Summary: It sounded so great to have a heart, in retrospect. It wasn't. [Slight Lea x Kairi]
1. Having A Heart

Having a heart is _nothing_ like Lea expected it to be.

He's always figured that he'd end up feeling guilty, of course. He isn't _stupid._ Murdering Vexen in cold blood (Warm blood, technically speaking. Boiling, even...?) ensured that much.

But he figured it would also be... _nice_. To hear it pounding when he ran too fast, or feel it accelerate when he did something stupid or a heartless jumped him. To feel happy when with his friends, eating ice-cream in the sunset. To feel _anything,_ really.

It sounded so_ great_ to have a heart, in retrospect.

It wasn't.

* * *

"Watch it!" He's had better battle cries, but there's not much time for thinking when a fifteen-year-old is swinging a flower-bedazzled key at your head.

"Can't keep up?" She's _cruel._ At least, using 'Princess of Heart' standards. From what Lea's seen, the Princesses are _sweet_. You've got Alice, the little blonde girl racing around Wonderland; Jasmine, who seems nice enough when watched from a far. (Not that he was a stalker; no. _Missions._) Then there's the brunette girl who's name he could never seem to remember...

"As if," He snorts lightly before bringing his keyblade up to block a haphazard blow from the teen. "It's not my problem that you aim for my_ hair_ instead of any vital organs; Y'know?" A scoff as he shoots a fireball at her. "Maybe it's just my inner assassin talkin'."

The red-head in front of him gasps lightly before twirling out of the way. Lea doesn't even bother to keep attacking her when she's distracted, because she's still 'learning'.

_If Yen Sid bothered to watch the training, he could tell that she most definitely doesn't need me going easy on her..._

_What did he say again? Oh, right!_

_"Since she's still 'learning', we can't let the big, bad Lea go too hard on her. Heaven forbid he hurts the precious, harmless little Princess!"_

_Harmless, right. Consider it memorized._

He tosses the keyblade up in the air, catching it easily before throwing a glance across the field at Kairi. "Wanna call it a draw?"

"Wait... what?" She regains her footing pretty easily before whipping around to face him. Her hair flies into her face with the effort, but it doesn't seem to bother her. "You're giving up like _that_?"

"I'm not givin' up-"

"Well then, come on!" Narrowing eyes that look way too familiar for her own good, she swings the keyblade down so that it's tip is facing the male head-on. "Don't hold back, _Axel_."

The way his heart drops at the words for seemingly no reason is slightly alarming, but he brushes it off as a fluke. "It's Lea, and I _refuse_ to play this game again."

"What game?" Lea shakes his head in slight disbelief.

"Y'know what I'm talking about, so don't play dumb." He lets his keyblade disappear as he continues speaking. "I say we call it a draw, you tell me no, I say yes, you say no, then I end up storming off..." He scratches the back of his neck, dropping his eyes to the ground. "Then, you rat me out to 'Sid."

"_Master Yen_-"

He waves a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, _whatever_! I'm tired, you're tired, let's just call it a draw for today."

"...Fine." Then she's smiling and getting rid of her keyblade. "If anyone asks, though, I won."

He likes banter like this. It's something he's actually good at. "Like anyone will believe you?"

"_Sora_ will." Then his heart's dropping all over again, because he's never going to get used to that girl flinging the name 'Sora' around so easily and he'll never know why. It's normal for her-and everyone else-isn't it?

"..._Whatever_. Go run off to the keybearer and tell him all about how you beat the big, bad Lea. Make him impressed."

"You're a keybearer too, you know." She leans forward with a smile. "I could always brag to you."

"I wouldn't enjoy it." He turns away then, because suddenly she's getting sassy and it's never a good thing to stick around her when she's like that.

"You can't fool me!" His heart's clenching all over again, and he suddenly _really_ wants to get out of this conversation and back to his room.

So he opens up a dark corridor and shrugs.

"I guess I can't."

And he leaves the shorter red-head standing alone in the yard, utterly confused.


	2. Finding A Heart

Lea still has a habit of going to the Clock Tower after missions. 

Not that they're really 'missions' anymore, more like training lessons. With Kairi. _Always_ with Kairi. (Well, usually. 'Cause every once in a while she takes the day off to train with Sid and he's stuck with Riku.

...He'd rather the Princess.)

Kairi may look sweet, but she can fight like the best of them. It forever aggravates Lea that no one ever listens to his idea of going on an actual mission off-world with her, so she could attack the heartless and he'd _finally_ have a target that he wouldn't have to watch out for and avoid killing. Like keeping the Princess safe is gonna help him in the Keyblade War?

But _no._

"You aren't ready," Sid would tell him. Like he hadn't been fighting for ten years before turning to the 'good' side. Just because he switched weapons didn't mean he needed to be treated like a baby; For Kingdom Heart's sake, _Donald_ got to do more than him!

But whatever; If he couldn't get an off-world mission, he'd just go with the next best activity... relaxing. (Hey, keyblade training could take a lot out of someone!

...And he may just have to crush that tiny little piece of his heart saying that Roxas was waiting for him in Twilight Town.)

So he opened a Dark Corridor when no one was around and headed out. 

* * *

He knows it's coming, but his heart still sinks tremendously when his favourite blonde isn't waiting for him on the ledge of the Clock Tower.

_Of course he isn't here, he's dead._

_...At least, as dead as a Nobody can be._

Lea sinks down on the ledge, resting one arm against his knee and peering over at the town. It's getting warmer; obviously summer weather. It shocks Lea that summer has come along already. He either missed a lot more time then he thought, (Possibly a lot less) or this world ran on a different time zone. Probably the second one; He figures that the eternal sunset might have something to do with it.

Speaking of sunsets, he can't help but think of Roxas whenever he sees one.

Even if it's not a main thought, the name is a constant pulse in the back of his mind.

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

The ice-cream tastes much too salty for his liking today, so he drops it off of the Clock Tower. He can't hear the landing from his spot; leaning over the edge to watch it doesn't improve much.

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"You know, you probably shouldn't sit so close to the edge like that."

"And why not?" He doesn't let the surprise show on his face, only tucks his hands behind his head and lies back. His eyelids flutter shut as the voice continues speaking.

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"So you don't fall off?"

There's the quiet sound of moving fabric, causing green eyes to open slightly. Kairi is sitting next to him

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

She takes a moment to examine him before turning away. "...What a nice view..." Her voice has lost it's slight sarcasm. "I can see why you head up here after practice."

He doesn't respond. She doesn't exactly blame him.

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"In fact," A light sigh. "Sora, Riku and I... We used to watch the sunset back on the islands." She turns to glance at the other red-head, who has yet to react.

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"It was nice. I sort of miss it... Maybe I'll have to join you up here."

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"...You talk too much." He states, a little quieter than she expects. "You'll ruin it."

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"Like you don't?" She doesn't question his second comment, because she already has a pretty good idea what he's talking about.

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"...True."

She sighs again before turning back to the sun. Lea merely frowns. He wasn't planning on anyone coming up here; He knew some kids frequented this spot, but a usually they'd notice him and scurry off to who knows where.

"I think we should be heading back; Riku told me he was gonna behead us if we were gone too long."

"I doubt dear old Master Riku would say that to anyone; let alone you." The girl giggles.

"Yeah, he didn't say it exactly like that..." She pushes herself up and holds her hands behind her back. "He _did_ say he wanted us back, though."

Lea pushes himself up, blinking a bit at the sun before turning to her.

"All right, let's go... Hey, wait." The girl makes a quiet 'huh?' noise, blinking up at him. "How'd you get here, anyways?"

_roxas roxas roxas roxas_

"I, uh... might have snuck through your portal?"

The taller red-head pauses for a minute, scrutinizing the girl to see if she's lying.

She's not.

His assassin skills were _seriously_ lacking if a _fifteen-year-old Princess_ in a _pink dress_ was able to follow him.

...He was going to die pretty quickly in the final battle if he didn't start training harder. (Going back to the whole he _can't_ because of _Kairi_ but maybe she isn't as bad as he thought-)

"You _followed_ me?"

"Possibly?" She gets this smile on her face before she turns away. "It doesn't matter, right? So just... open up another portal, and I'll race you to it!"

"...Race?" He raises both eyebrows.

"Yeah! Y'know, running to a location and trying to beat the other person?" She lets out a laugh. "I'd thought you'd know that with your _vast knowledge_."

"Was that sarcasm?" _Oh, it's on._

"Possibly?" She's giggling again, and Lea can't help but chuckle at her.

Then he catches himself and stops.

"Alright, let's just do this race." He raises his hand, letting a Dark Corridor materialize at the bottom of the Clock Tower. "No cheatin' like you do during training, got it?"

"I don't cheat!"

"Sure." He lets the sarcasm drip from the word. "Now c'mon, count us down."

"I'm good at this, I used to do it all the time for Sora and Riku." _If she keeps talking like this, I'm going to have a heart attack._ He resists the urge to clutch at his chest while she goes through the numbers. "Three, two, one, and... go!"

The pair barrel down the stairs, plowing past a trio of kids in the doorway.

"Whoa!" One of the boys gasps, fumbling with his ice-cream before catching it. "Whew... What was _that?_"

The blonde growls before turning towards the pair. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry!" The shorter one calls. The trio watches as they turn the corner.

"...That was weird," The first boy states.

"_They_ were weird."

"Hayner!" The third member of the trio gasps. "That wasn't very nice."

"Yeah? Well _I'm_ not nice. I just want some ice-cream. Now c'mon, before they come back! Look, I'll even race you. Winner pays for the ice-cream tomorrow."

"Wha-?" The first boy gasps. "I don't think-"

"Three-two-one, _go!_" The boy races up the stairs with a laugh. The third member of the trio, a brunette girl is close behind.

"..._Guys!"_ The other boy trails behind the two. "This isn't fair! I paid today!" 

* * *

**A/N: I honestly don't know about this chapter.**

**I really liked this story as a one-shot, but then I wrote this and I like it? But it might have ended better for you guys if you liked it as a one-shot. **

**I'm gonna keep writing this, but it'd be nice if you guys helped decide? Like, if no one really likes this chapter I'll delete it.**

**Please review so I know whether to continue it or not! 3**


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